AUSTIN — A group of women’s health care clinics sued the state Friday to overturn parts of a new law that they say would limit access to abortion, especially in smaller cities and rural areas.

The suit filed in federal court in Austin rekindles a long-simmering fight between abortion rights advocates and Republican legislators who passed the measure during summer after a Democratic filibuster that temporarily shut down the Senate.

Opponents want a judge to bar the requirements that doctors who perform abortions must have admitting privileges at a local hospital and that they follow certain federal protocols in administering abortion pills.

“This law is unconstitutional and it interferes with a woman’s ability to make her own private medical decision, and it will absolutely jeopardize women’s health and safety,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.

Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican who will defend the state in the suit, had no immediate comment. The groups suing said that if they get a court order halting the law, scheduled to take effect Oct. 29, they expect Abbott will take it to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group, said the law’s intent is to ensure women are cared for in case of an emergency.

“For as long as abortion is legal, the state should make sure that it is as safe as comparable surgical or medical procedures,” he said.

The suit, which Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union are pushing on behalf of a dozen health clinics, does not challenge another provision of the law that bans abortion after 20 weeks.

“You can only do so much at once,” Austin attorney Jim George told reporters Friday.

He said such abortions are rare and “the immediate problem we’re facing here is that there are large parts of the population of Texas that would be effectively precluded from ever getting an abortion” under the new rules.

Also not part of the suit was the requirement that all abortion facilities meet surgical center standards, which some say they cannot afford. That does not go into effect until next September.

Closings coming

Already, four abortion clinics have announced plans to close as a result of the law.

Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, estimated that 13 clinics, or about a third of the total abortion facilities in Texas, will cease operations this year if the law isn’t thrown out.

That’s largely because doctors have been unable to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital less than 30 miles from where an abortion is performed, as mandated by the new law.

Clinic operators say the current and potential closures would leave women without access to abortion clinics in Fort Worth, Harlingen, Killeen, Lubbock, McAllen and Waco.

Other clinics will remain open but will be unable to operate at current staffing levels because of difficulties in getting admitting privileges.

Some hospitals have been reluctant to extend that to doctors who don’t work there. And each may have different qualifications, such as minimum number of surgical hours logged and board certifications.

Pills to end pregnancy

The suit also takes aim at the requirement that patient visits for women using abortion-inducing pills increase to four from three and that doctors follow strict federal guidelines for administering the medication.

The suit says that it is unconstitutional for the state to mandate how doctors practice medicine, especially when it countermands current best practices.

During the legislative debate, state obstetricians testified against the protocol. They said dosage amounts and administration techniques have been updated since the FDA’s approval more than a decade ago.

“Not only is this law unnecessary, it puts the lives and health of Texas women in jeopardy,” Dalven said.

Of the three states with laws requiring that doctors follow the FDA protocol, the courts have overturned two of them, in North Dakota and Oklahoma. A similar law in Ohio has been upheld on appeal.

The law’s supporters in Texas say that requiring a doctor to have admitting privileges at a local hospital is designed to improve safety if there are medical complications.

Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, who authored the bill, said Friday that it “plays a critically important role in improving safety standards for women and protecting the life of the unborn child.”

The lawsuit was filed days before Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth is expected to announce her run for governor. She drew national attention for her sneaker-clad filibuster that temporarily derailed the abortion bill.

The GOP-led Legislature later revived it, and Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed it into law.

AT A GLANCE / OTHER STATES

Eight states have laws similar to the one in Texas requiring that physicians who perform abortions get hospital admitting privileges. Legal challenges have temporarily halted them from taking effect in Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

The ban on abortion after 20 weeks — also in the Texas law — was found unconstitutional in Arizona and Idaho by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. But a Texas challenge would go to the more conservative Fifth Circuit. Similar laws also have been temporarily halted in Arkansas, Georgia and North Dakota because of opponents’ lawsuits.